Reason to live
by empire14
Summary: 'His family was gone, his friends were gone and Atmos was overrun by Cyclonians.' After ten years, a familiar face rises from the depths of the wastelands to fulfill an oath he made long ago. Can a darkened heart that thinks only of revenge be saved by the one thing it thought was gone forever. The Original Storm Hawks' Sky Knight rises again as he must choose his reason to live.
1. Better Late Than Never

I'm new in the Storm Hawks fandom so if you have advice or tips than please feel free to pass them on! I'll try to update at least once a week but life sometimes has a habit of messing with that. Please enjoy and drop a review afterward ;)

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The wastelands.

It was a very appropriate name for a monster infested, volcanic land that stretched as far as the eye could see. Then again, the volcanic fumes and plentiful mountains didn't exactly allow for an eye stretching horizon, they actually made it seem like you were always boxed in.

In other words, the wastelands was probably the most uninhabitable, horrifying and dangerous place in the entire Atmos. Therefore, no one could have ever thought that someone was actually living down there. He had been surviving for, give or take, seven years. It had been seven years since he had found out that the most important thing he had fought for was gone.

After the betrayal and the defeat the sky knights had suffered, he had been presumed dead. It had been the perfect disguise, that and one of the few crystals he had which allowed him to change his face. He had wandered topside, going from Terra to Terra to find that one place he was looking for; his home. It had taken three years to get back without being found out, but once he did…

He had been so sure that they would be able to get the Sky Knights back up, that they would defeat Cyclonia and finally give Atmos the peace it so deserved. He had been sure it would be possible, until he saw the charred and burned remains of his home and was told there had been no survivors from the vicious Cyclonian attack. The woman and child that had lived there were both dead.

He stopped wandering, stopped hoping and eventually ended up in the wastelands. His mind and heart grew bitter as he felt betrayed by life itself. At first he was angry, than there was the ever gaping hole of sorrow and finally the crushing guilt. He should have been there to protect his family, he should have never stopped fighting Cyclonia, he should have never dragged Cora into his life and put her in danger, he should have never become a Sky Knight, he shouldn't have, he shouldn't have, he shouldn't have!

The bitterness never left and the guilt ate away at him. All thoughts of defeating the Cyclonians and being a sky knight slowly but surely vanished. He still had his sword but only used it to fight off beasts. He finally began to think that the wastelands were where he belonged, what he deserved. He had failed everyone and everything he had ever sworn to protect and was now doomed to live with those thoughts until the end of his days. Forced to live with his family's faces always on his mind and know that he could not ever see them again. The thought of ending his own life had crossed his mind more than a few times, but a voice in the back of his head, a voice he was mostly unaware of, had never allowed him to actually go through with it. And after spending seven years in a hole so deep and dark no light could ever hope to reach it, a small sliver of hope suddenly reached his crippled heart as he saw the Condor, _his_ Condor, fly overhead.

He had not seen the ship for over ten years and, even though there was no saying who could have been flying it and if they had good intentions, that small sliver became a pesky thought in his head that would _not_ go away. So, after some months of fighting with himself, he went looking for the next mountain he could climb all the way up to the Terra's. When he finally got topside, his entire mind was shattered by what he found. Bat like humans with glowing eyes and a harness were flying around in the sky and Cyclonian troups were on every single Terra.

Cyclonia was ruling the Atmos and people lived in constant fear of losing their Terra to a _flying_ Cyclonia. Mind made up Lightning decided to get to the bottom of this He had long ago made an oath to protect the Atmos and too many of his oaths and promises had been broken.

His long forgotten chroma crystal was once again masking his face as he made use of some garbage ships to hop his way over to the Terra where he was bound to find some answers; Terra Atmosia.

Something inside of him was stirring and waking up, something he had thought long gone, as he looked at the people and the families living in fear on Terra Atmosia. After seven years of grieving and living in the shadows he finally knew why he was still alive, he finally knew why he still had his sword and what he was fighting for.

His own family may have been taken from him, but he was a Sky Knight, more importantly, he was a Storm Hawk. He protected _all_ of Atmos and he would make sure, until he blew out his last breath, that no other family would be torn apart like his.

The crystal that rested in the slot of his sword started humming and he could feel the familiar burn in his body as the need to draw his weapon came back full force. The chroma crystal made sure no one saw the blue shine in his eyes as he was rekindled with the strength he had possessed so many years ago. A strength that was intensified by the thought that those who had died, would not have died in vain.

His name was Lightning Strike, and he would make the Cyclonians pay for _all_ they had done!


	2. Get Ready

For the duration of this entire story I would just like to say; I do not own the Storm Hawks. I envy those who do, but hey, they thought of it, not me...right, on with the story.

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Lightning had decided that it'd be best if he talked to as few people as possible. He'd come across a very nice man who owned a bike-repair shop and was allowed to stay there seeing as Lightning's home Terra had been destroyed. It hadn't been a total lie, his home Terra really was gone, it had just happened around nine years ago. Lightning helped the man with everything and anything, and in return he was allowed to sift through the 'old junk heap' and keep anything he found useful.

It had taken Lightning a few days to even find something that remotely resembled a skimmer and it would probably be another few before it could actually fly. The Cyclonian patrols and Nightcrawlers (as they were apparently called) kept a very watchful eye on all of the people in Terra Atmosia. Lightning could only work on the ride a few hours every day without the Cyclonians getting suspicious. The rest of the time he pretended to be as down and fearful as the rest of the citizens, which wasn't that hard seeing as he'd had seven years of practice.

He was currently walking outside, merely wandering around but secretly noting to himself in what intervals the patrols surveyed the street and how the Nightcrawlers seemed to fly in pairs of three. A memory from a long time ago suddenly resurfaced and a wry smile made it to his face as Lightning swore he could hear the high-pitched voice from his three-year-old son.

"_Can I go with you daddy, please! I want to fly to!"_

_Cora stood off to the side, her hand hid her smile but the twinkle in her eyes betrayed her. Lightning glanced at her and smiled as well, Aerrow sure was persistent. He'd begged to go for a ride on his dad's skimmer every day for the past two weeks. Lightning got off of his skimmer and crouched down in front of his son, bringing himself to the three-year-old's eye level._

"_Tell you what. I'll make the same deal with you that my father made with me. When you're big enough to reach down to the pedals and manage the steering at the same time, then we'll go for a ride. And with the way you're growing, that shouldn't take too long!"_

_Lightning ruffled his son's hair as a slight frown marred the boy's chubby features. The child was doing his hardest to look serious and it was taking all Lightning had not to laugh._

"_Promise, daddy! Make an oath as a Sky Knight that you'll take me flying when I'm big enough."_

_A small laugh escaped him and Lightning took a hold of his son's shoulders. He looked straight into two pools of innocent green and was reminded how little Aerrow knew about the world and its ugly secrets. Lightning wasn't about to teach him any time soon._

"_I swear, on my honour as a Sky Knight, that I will take you flying when you're big enough."_

It had been one of the two promises he'd broken towards his son. If given the chance, Lightning would fly his son to the end of the world and back, if only to hear him giggle and see his smile.

The thought faded and the pain came back full force before Lightning shook his head and cleared his mind. He couldn't let the pain win, not anymore, he had a score to settle. He'd fix the skimmer (and add a few upgrades) and then he'd take the fight _right_ to Cyclonia.

Or maybe Cyclonia would just come to him. Or at least, the floating head of Master Cyclonis would.

Lightning had known Master Cyclonis had had a granddaughter, but he hadn't known that she was the new ruler of Cyclonia. It had been one of the shocks he'd had since coming topside again. Things sure had changed in seven years.

The giant apparition looked _pissed_. It probably wasn't all that strange for their evil ruler to look, well, _evil_. But something told Lightning that whatever was about to happen, it _really_ wasn't good. Her black lined eyes were drawn into slits and after a few seconds she started to speak, her voice coming from all around them.

"People of Atmosia. Thanks to the actions of a few _petulant criminals_, you'll be paying…with your _terra_!"

Cyclonis looked to her left and everyone on the Terra followed her gaze to see the instrument of their demise floating towards them. Terra Cyclonia was heading straight for Terra Atmosia and all Lightning could do for a second was just stare at the great abomination that had caused so much grief. The tower was as he remembered it but the fearful glowing spikes jutting out from beneath it were new, probably what made the damn thing fly in the first place.

The wind was picking up and the sun had disappeared as soon as the announcement had made place but people didn't start panicking until the Terra started shaking and the knowledge that they were going to be crushed made its way into everyone's head.

People were jumping, screaming, running and falling over each other in a matter of seconds. Lightning quickly got out of the way of the moving stampede and stood close to a building but had to move again to avoid being bashed by falling debris. The shaking of the Terra was creating cracks and tears in the buildings. A few Cyclonis statues had already fallen but Lightning could only smirk at that.

Just when the first cracks appeared in the ground it all stopped. The ground stopped shaking and one by one, people stopped screaming. Lightning picked himself up from the ground where he'd jumped to to avoid getting crushed and followed everyone's gaze up to the Cyclonian tower.

The Terra had stopped trying to demolish them and now everyone could see why. The Condor was slowly lowering itself onto the Cyclonian loading dock and as soon as it touched down it was securely anchored before Terra Cyclonia moved away from Terra Atmosia and floated in a different direction.

People were slowly starting to move and walked back towards their respective houses, heads hung low and shoulders drooping. Lightning stood in the middle still looking at the sky.

'_They couldn't have!'_

There was no way the Storm Hawks could have just given up. They were the only ones left still going against Cyclonia. Their methods had been a little childish but they brought hope that this war could still be won. They couldn't have just surrendered…could they?

Lightning took another few minutes before he moved. First he was walking, than running and finally sprinting towards the workshop. He didn't care if he had to work all night or if he had to fight every single Cyclonian to get to that tower. He was going to find a way to do it and he was going to take Cyclonis down even if it killed him. He'd given up once before and look where that had gotten the world. People were scared for their lives every minute of every day and the entire Atmos was overrun with Cyclonians.

Lightning burst into the workshop, grabbed a toolbox and set to work. He was going to end this one way or another. Cyclonis may think that she now had every single Sky Knight trapped on her own Terra, but she couldn't have been more wrong. Lightning was going to finish what he'd started ten years ago, and this time, nothing and no one was going to stop him from finishing off Cyclonis.

He would get his revenge for all the lives lost, with or without help.


	3. Shock of the Century

It had been … _difficult_ to get off of Terra Atmosia without the Cyclonians noticing, but Lightning had pulled it off. His cloaking crystal could still perform a few tricks that Cyclonis, fortunately, didn't know about. He was able to shield and cloak himself and his skimmer by making everyone think he was one of those Nightcrawlers flying overhead.

Lightning had flown around a little lost at first, how do you find a Terra that can _move_, when he noticed a darkening in the sky and decided to fly towards the ominous clouds and flashes of red and purple in the sky. It had turned out to be a pretty safe bet.

Lightning was currently dodging 'crawlers and trying to figure out who was managing this completely ridiculous yet somewhat effective assault. The good leader would be going after the evil leader, and Lightning really wanted a piece of the evil leader

He dropped the cloak and activated his chroma crystal again as he spotted the Condor in the middle of the fray. Immediately, 'crawlers started to come at him.

The first two Lightning dodged and the next got his wings blown off by two accurate crystal bolts coming from his sword.

When he came closer to the Condor, he noticed something he could only describe as _bizarre_. A blond mop of hair was shooting at Nightcrawlers while a blue creature to the side was handing him arrows coated with … fur? The second the Nightcrawlers tried to use their crystals to ward off the attack, the crystals malfunctioned then exploded leaving the 'crawlers sprawled out on the Condor's deck.

Deciding that they, even though they were on the Condor, didn't seem like any kind of leaders, he flew back up … and into a 'crawler.

Lightning yelled at the sudden impact and tried to get his steering back under control. His skimmer was spiralling down towards the tower and Lightning noticed a piece of his right upper wing had broken and was now flapping uselessly in the wind completely disrupting the balance.

He was now close to the top of the tower and wanted to at least right his skimmer so he could crash land on top of the damn thing instead of into it. It wasn't until his ride stopped spinning that he noticed people seemed to be floating above said tower … and that they were glowing.

'_What the-_

'**CRASH'**

The second his skimmer slammed into the base of one the beams on top of the tower a flash of blinding red light erupted over his head and send out a shockwave that connected and then shredded the strange red crystal that was apparently also on the tower. Lightning was thrown off of his ride and lay for a few seconds before slowly getting up and, ignoring the slight dizziness from the fall, picked up his blade. The blue crystal hummed and his blade was alight with blue energy.

Lightning was still actually trying to wrap his head around flying people and imploding huge crystals when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw her. Cyclonis was flying away from the battle and into her tower.

'_You're not getting away from me!'_

Lightning quickly looked for some sort of entrance and found it. He took the stairs down and raced passed numerous chambers, all of them empty.

'_Great, how am I going to find her when I don't even know where she is … where am I for that matter!'_

"Cyclonis!"

The voice was coming from his left. Lightning immediately opened the first door he saw.

"You're not getting away this time."

Lightning found himself on some sort of balcony looking out over a huge oval shaped room. The most important thing, however, was the girl with black eye liner and a crystal staff standing on a staircase that led to some sort of portal … a doorway.

'_How could she have found it!'_

"Then come and get me…"

Cyclonis turned back and made to step through to the Far Side, but Lightning had come here for revenge, not some game of hide and seek. He powered up his blade, jumped over the railing and with a yell performed his signature move. A single energy blast erupted from his blade and smashed into the side of the portal making the entire thing collapse.

Lightning caught himself in a roll and got back to his feet, sword up, to face the Cyclonian ruler.

"How about we stop playing games."

At this, the girl let out an animalistic shout and fired blast after blast at him. It was almost too easy to dodge them and after a few, Lightning fired a blast which hit the girl squarely in the chest. She fell down the steps, losing her staff in the process, and lay dazed on the floor. Lightning walked up to her, his blade crackling in response to the suffocating hatred that boiled up. This _girl_ and her _grandmother_ were directly responsible for destroying his life and so many others'.

"No more running, no more hiding. Just you and me, _Cyclonis_."

He was now standing in front of her. Her eyes had grown large with the knowledge of defeat and there was even a shimmer of fear within them. But all Lightning saw was an evil that had to be put down. All he could feel was immense hatred towards the person who had taken_ everything_!

A voice was talking but all he could hear was the rushing of his blood. His heart was beating against his chest and he swore his vision went red.

Suddenly he was the one yelling. His body acted on some primal instinct and his blade swung back. The energy crackled around his hands as he moved the sword forward and down towards Cyclonis' helpless form. This would end, now!

"STOP!"

The energy and steel hit a much more solid object than a human and the shock almost made Lightning drop his sword. The red veil vanished and he found he could breathe again. His heart quieted and the rushing stopped as the adrenaline wore off. Anger kicked in as he noticed twin blue blades had blocked his attack. He shifted his stance and with an angry shout pushed whoever had robbed him of his revenge away. The person stumbled and regained his balance, still standing between Lightning and Master Cyclonis.

Lightning put his sword down so he could look at the intruder.

"What do you think you're do-

Lightning froze.

Everything stopped as the person in front of him came into clear view. The boy was panting slightly and had his steely gaze locked onto Lightning. Each hand held a blade and he was crouching slightly while staying on the balls of his feet, ready to react if needed.

But none of that really mattered, none of that really registered. All Lightning could focus on was the boy's face. It was like he was looking in a mirror, except that mirror made him twenty, or so, years younger. The same red hair, the same green eyes, even the same fiery look Lightning always used to have when practising his fighting with Ace. The name of his friend turned traitor should have brought back a whole barrage of unwanted memories and feelings, but Lightning found himself lost in the teenager in front of him.

'_He looks just like … me'_

"I said, stop."

"Guys! We gotta move, this whole place is coming down!"

The teenager broke the staring contest and it was only then that Lightning noticed that the tower was shaking madly and the sound of falling debris filled his head, how could he have missed that?

Lightning looked passed his look-alike and saw the blond mop of hair from before and the Condor standing outside. A blue-haired girl was holding Cyclonis trapped with crystal bonds and was dragging her kicking and screaming form to the flying machine.

Green eyes once again locked onto his and one of the teenagers hands reached out to grasp his arm.

"Look, whatever score you need to settle. I'm pretty sure it's impossible to do when you're dead, so let's just get out of here."

The tower gave another terrifying lurch and the blond kid screamed.

"Hurry UP!"

Without further incentive Lightning was following the teenager outside and onto the Condor. As soon as the bay doors closed the ship took off. Lightning kept following the boy, too stunned and bewildered to do much else, and found himself standing in a very familiar brig.

"Man, I thought she was never going to shut up."

The blond boy was lounging on the couch with his feet up on the table and his hands behind his head. He had his eyes closed and a lazy smile stuck on his face.

"Chika … cha."

A wallop went to sit next to him, a somewhat stunned look on his face, he looked at Cyclonis, at the blond boy lazing around, at Cyclonis again, and eventually at the red head.

"Did we just really win?"

Everyone was quiet for a moment as Cyclonis was struggling against her bonds and screaming into her gag, which the blond had apparently put on her, before the red head smiled and put a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Yeah Junko, we just won. We finished what the original Storm Hawks set out to do ten years ago. The Atmos is safe now."

The two on the couch cheered and high fived while the girl and Lightning-look-alike smiled at eachother.

"Uhm, excuse me."

Everyone's attention (except for Lightning who was still staring at the red head) went to the Merb at the helm.

"I don't mean to ruin the moment, but uhh, who is he."

The Merb deadpanned at the end, left eye twitching somewhat, as he pointed at Lightning.

All eyes were now on the former Sky Knight, and for the first time since following the red head onto the Condor, Lightning realised there were a lot of other people here … just perfect.

Luckily he was saved from answering by a voice on the radio.

"_Storm Hawks, this is Starling, come in. Storm Hawks, can anyone here me!"_

The red head quickly made his way over to the radio and answered. What he said next knocked the breath out of Lightning's lungs and made his legs shake.

"Starling, this is Aerrow. Are you okay?"

Lightning had felt dizzy before but nothing compared to the loops his mind was currently making. Things had gone from strange to impossible in a matter of minutes and Lightning was having trouble holding the extreme barrage of emotions at bay.

_´It … it can't be'_

They had died. His wife and son had both died in a Cyclonian attack. He had been to their graves, seen the destruction caused to their home. There was no way that the boy in front of him could be …

"Hey, Aerrow?"


End file.
